XIV 



THE COMING GENERATION 



WHATEVER your conjugal felicities, you will 

 not have tested to the full the pleasures of the 

 marital state unless you have become a pa- 

 rent; much less will you have gained its fullest benefits 

 in character-building. Not all who are otherwise fitted 

 for marriage are justified in assuming the responsibilities 

 of parentage, to be sure. Some day, I opine, our 

 customs, even our laws, must take cognizance of that 

 fact. But this phase of the subject has no present con- 

 cern for us. We cannot here consider the case of the 

 man or woman who, because of some constitutional or 

 mental defect, may not or cannot produce offspring. 

 Our concern is with the fortunate majority who are not 

 denied that privilege. 



I use the word privilege advisedly, but let us not 

 slur the fact that a large proportion of parents-to-be 

 do not at first recognize the matter in that light. Par- 

 enthood is for the most part involuntary, and a very 

 large number of young married couples would avoid it if 

 they could. Many of them rebel against it while it is in 

 prospect, regarding it as intrusion on the freedom and 

 the happiness of their lives. But this, in case of normal 

 persons, only for a time. Gradually the point of view 

 shifts. First the inevitable is accepted grudgingly, then 

 welcomed doubtfully. Presently nature works anew 

 her perennial miracle of transformation. Self inter- 



